Van Schaick Country Club could have new neighbor

COHOES >> Property adjacent to the Van Schaick Island Country Club is proposed to become a high-end development with 154 units, but for some the project is not a welcomed addition.

The project, tentatively dubbed Sherwood Forest, will be discussed at upcoming Planning Board meetings in the Spindle City. If approved, the project would include building 154 units and would require purchasing land from the city and the country club, said community development director Ed Tremblay. The development would be nestled between the nearby elementary school and the country club.

The type of apartments will include studios, one bedrooms, one bedroom units with a den, two bedrooms, and two bedroom units with a den.

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The idea, explained Dean Devito with Coldwell Banker Commercial Prime Properties, is to build slightly smaller apartments so they are more affordable. While prices are still preliminary, a studio at around 600 square feet would be about $900. The largest unit would be about 1,000 square feet.

Apartments would include granite counters, stainless steel, and the property would have a courtyard with pool and an active common space. Along with this, the property borders the country club with a park and pond, he said.

“We want to work together with the country club,” said Devito. “Being so close to a country club is a great benefit.”

But not everyone is excited about the possibility of 174 new living units on the island.

“I don’t like the path the city is taking as far as these developments on the island on many different levels. It saddens me to see it happening,” said Rick Gamache, who has lived on Van Schaick Island for 46 years. “First of all, the infrastructure on the island is aging and simply cannot support the volume of these projects. The traffic is another issue, there is already far too much traffic on Bridge Avenue and Ontario Street as it is. Rush hours are particularly horrible. What were once quiet neighborhoods now find cars whipping down side streets and alleys to beat the lights on the two main streets.”

Devito said that a traffic study will be part of the approval process, but he said that the traffic generation from the project would not be a lot.

“We’re doing everything we can, within reason, to work with neighbors,” he said, noting that he wanted to make sure he touched base with as many residents as possible before the project goes to planning board meetings. “We’re trying to do things to make the whole neighborhood nicer.”

The start of the project will depend upon approval and financing but it could begin in 2015. “This will not be the last development in this corridor,” said Tremblay. “We still have room to grow along the riverfront.”

Tremblay noted this would be one of the last developments planned for Van Schaick Island, which is also home to developments Admirals Walk, Riverwalk, and Watersview.

A public meeting is slated this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Country Club to go over the preliminary design plans.